Roll of Honour 2023

P AGE 243

W ORLD W AR II

S T . E DWARD ’ S S CHOOL , O XFORD R OLL OF H ONOUR

Name OLAF PETER RHODES (Capt)

Arrive SES 1932

Lef SES 1936

Roll Number 2788 Died 22:02:1942

Set / House A

Where SITTANG RIVER, BURMA Serving with ROYAL ARMY SERVICE CORPS

Age 24

Buried Rangoon Memorial Cemetery Remembered

The Rangoon Memorial, The Rotherham WW2 Memorial, St. Mary Magdalene Church Rotherham (Plaque) and The St. Edward’s School WW2 Memorial

Born Poole, Dorset 1918, the youngest of three OSE brothers, the sons of an Army Colonel. ‘All friends will remember him as of the most cheerful and good-natured disposition, thoughtful and full of consideration for others’ (Chronicle). He was in the Lower Modern VIth Form on leaving. After school he took up mining engineering in 1938. With war declared he gained a commission as a Second Lieutenant in the Royal Army Service Corps in 1940 and was promoted quickly. By 1942 he was a Captain with the Movement Control Section of the Corps posted to Burma. He was killed in action during the desperate fighting during the Battle of the Sittang River against overwhelming Japanese forces. Mainly fought by Indian regiments Rhodes’s group were playing a supporting role but were nevertheless caught up by the speed of the enemy advance.